LRC: Israel demolished 5,000 homes in Jerusalem

Land Research Center states that Israel has been systematically demolishing Palestinian neighborhoods since 1967.

14 Mar 2018 18:24 GMT

A Palestinian boy looks on as municipality workers demolish a house in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Tzur Baher, Tuesday, October 27, 2009. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)

A new Palestinian report reveals that Israel demolished five thousand homes in Jerusalem since 1967 as well as the demolition of neighbourhoods in the eastern part of the city.

The report, issued by the Land Research Center (LRC), also noted that the 380,000 Jerusalemite Palestinians need 2,000 new housing units annually, and that half of them today live in unlicensed homes.

Permits

According to the report, Jerusalem's municipality has put in place a series of procedures that would make Palestinian construction in Jerusalem impossible.

According to UN data, Israel approved only 1.5 percent of all requests for building permits submitted by Palestinians between 2010 and 2014.

According to the LRC report, only 12% of Palestinian land in East Jerusalem can be used for urban development, of which only 7% is zoned for residential housing.

An earlier report by the Israeli NGO B'tselem confirms those findings, saying that "some 15% of the land area in East Jerusalem (about 8.5% of Jerusalem's municipal jurisdiction) is zoned for residential use by Palestinian residents, although Palestinians currently account for 40% of the city's population."

As of 2017, more than 20,000 housing units have been built without permits in East Jerusalem.